Annette Gray is a literacy consultant and adviser. She has many years’ successful teaching experience in classrooms K-10 across Australia and in international settings.

Hand arranging wood block stacking as step stair. Business concept for growth success process

What should we look for in an effective resource?

Teachers are legally required to deliver the Australian Curriculum to our students, in some States this is through syllabus documents. The Australian Curriculum website includes support pages of content, achievement standards, and examples of student work. Each State or Territory also provides support material particular to that context; many are accessible online. Teachers can have…

Two teachers side by side working on book

Teacher learning

I have spent some time this term with Primary Masters of Teaching students who are undertaking their professional experience placements for Semester 1. This has provided the excuse to explore some of the issues of student teacher professional experience, and how the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2018) can inform this experience. Mentor Preparation…

That Test

So much has been written about that test, and the messages are confusing. Indigenous students’ literacy and numeracy skills have improved at twice the rate of their peers’ over the past decade, new NAPLAN data shows. Sydney Morning Herald 08/04/2019 … since 2008 there have been statistically significant gains and year levels, particularly at the…

Tetris gameboard colourful pieces dropping

Pedagogical Tetris

Considering ‘Tetris’. Mark Scott, Secretary of the NSW Department of Education (DoE), was recently part of a collaboration between The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) in a get-together titled ‘Schools Summit – Future frameworks for challenging times’…